Here follows the English translation of
an excerpt from the assembly's minutes:

Opening Session,
February 22, 1787 — Calonne's Speech

Abuses

Abuses [in tax payment] . . . are defended by self-interest,
influence, wealth and ancient prejudices which seem to be hallowed
by time; but what are all these together compared with the common
good and the necessity of the state?

These abuses oppress the wealth-producing, laboring class: the
abuses of pecuniary privilege; exceptions to the general rule, and
so many unjust; exemptions which only relieve one section of
taxpayers by aggravating the condition of the others. . . .

The projects which the King intends to impart to you . . . . are
neither doctrinaire nor novelties. They represent a summary of . . .
the plans for the public good long contemplated by experienced
statesmen and by the government itself. Some have been attempted in
part and all seem to have the backing of the nation, but hitherto
their complete implementation appeared impracticable because of the
difficulty of reconciling a host of local customs, claims,
privileges and conflicting interests.

To this end, His Majesty has first of all considered the various
forms of administration which occur in those provinces without
[local] Estates. In order that the distribution of taxation may
cease to be unequal and arbitrary, He has decided to confide the
task to the landowners and he has derived from the first principles
of the monarchy the general plan of a graduated series of
deliberative assemblies whereby the expression of the taxpayers'
wishes and their observations on everything which concerns them will
be transmitted from parish to district assemblies, thence to
provincial assemblies and through them to the throne.

Next His Majesty brought all his personal attention to bear on
establishing the same principle of uniformity . . . . in the
distribution of the land tax. . . . He recognized that . . . the
vingtièmes [one-twentieth], instead of being assessed as they
should be on all the land in his kingdom in true proportion to the
value of the crop, suffer an infinity of exceptions which are
tolerated rather than regarded as legitimate. . . . The revenue of
this general tax, instead of providing the government with vital
information about the produce of the kingdom and the relative wealth
of each province, serve only to demonstrate the offensive inequality
between their various contributions. . . .

His Majesty has decided to remedy these defects by applying the
rules of a strictly distributive justice, by restoring the original
intention behind the tax, and by raising it to its true value
without increasing anyone's contribution (indeed granting some
relief to the people), and finally by making every kind of privilege
incompatible. The vingtièmes will be replaced by a general
land tax covering the whole area of the kingdom on a proportion of
all produce, payable in kind where feasible, otherwise in money, and
admitting of no exception, even the crown lands other than those
resulting from the varying fertility of the soil and the varying
harvests.

The lands of the [Roman Catholic] Church would necessarily be
included in this general assessment which, to be fair, must include
all land as does the protection for which it is the price. But in
order that these lands should not be overburdened by continuing to
pay the taxes collected to fund the debt of the clergy, the King,
sovereign protector of the churches of his kingdom, has decided to
provide for the repayment of this debt by granting the clergy the
necessary authorization to make the repayment [by selling off feudal
rights, etc.] . . . .

Complete freedom of the grain trade . . . with the one exception of
deferring to the wishes of the provinces when any of them think it
necessary temporarily to suspend export abroad. . . .

The King also proposes the abolition of the corvée [forced
labor on public highways] and the conversion of this excessively
harsh exaction to a monetary contribution distributed more justly
and spent in such a way that it can never be diverted to other
purposes.

Internal free trade, customs houses removed to the frontiers, the
establishment of a uniform tariff taking the needs of commerce into
consideration, the suppression of several taxes which are harmful to
industry or lead too easily to harassment and the alleviation of the
burden of the gabelle [the obligation to purchase salt from
the state] (which I have never mentioned to His Majesty without his
being deeply grieved that he cannot rid his subjects of it
altogether).

These, gentlemen, are so many salutary
measures which enter into the plan upon which His Majesty will
enlarge and which all conform to the principles of order and
uniformity which are its basis.

. . . The bureau
considers that the establishment of provincial
assemblies would be useful, but that the plan
proposed in the memorandum, regardless of its
many faults, seems to depart from the French
constitution in that mixing the three orders
destroys the hierarchy necessary for the
maintenance of royal authority and the existence
of the monarchy. The bureau proposes that these
assemblies be given a form more in keeping with
the constitution of the realm, and it begs His
Majesty to invest them with all the authority
necessary to allocate taxes, to tender
contracts, and to decide upon, supervise, and
pay for public works.

It is the bureau's opinion that levying taxes in
kind is not allowable, being by nature vague,
disproportionate, unequal and extravagant. We
believe that a monetary tax should be spread
among all the lands of the realm, without
exception and in proportion to their revenues.
Also to convince the Notables of the taxes'
necessity, extent and duration, His Majesty
shall be asked to send them the accounts
requested in their deliberation of 5 March
allowing them to compare resources to needs. . .
.

The bureau approves of reimbursement of the
clergy's debts, which was felt to be
appropriate, but believes that the two measures
proposed for this purpose . . . would place
property at risk, contravene the principles of
distributive justice, and in some respects could
harm the general administration of the realm. .
. .

The bureau is of the opinion that the
abolishment of the corvée in labor would
be as just as it would be useful, and that all
matters relating to the amount and apportionment
of the [substitute] monetary tax, as well as the
tendering of contracts, supervision, and payment
for the resulting public works, should be
entrusted to the provincial assemblies. . . .

March 15, 1787 —
Protest of the Fourth Committee

. . . The bureau
presided over by His Grace the Prince de Condé .
. . on the subject of the first memorandum,
considers that the proposed composition of the
provincial assemblies is contrary to the
constitutive principles of the monarchy. As for
the second memorandum, the bureau considers that
the land tax in kind (which is its sole object)
cannot be adopted, and that the third
memorandum, dealing with the relief of the
clergy [from its debt], would result in
legitimate alarm regarding property. . . ..

March 16, 1787 —
Protest of the Third Committee

The bureau,
presided over by His Grace, the Duke of Orleans
. . . considered that it owed the King and the
nation an accounting of its true feelings, and
considered that it needed to explain the
disparity between the principles on which its
judgments were based and those embodied in the
memoranda it received. The bureau acknowledges
that its principles are contrary to those in the
memorandum on the establishment of provincial
assemblies, which it considers unconstitutional
and lacking in the powers necessary to render
them useful. They also disagreed about the tax
in kind known as the "land tax," which it
considers to be vague, disproportionate, and
extravagant, as well as on the reimbursement of
the clergy's debts, which it considers to be
contrary to the principles of property. The
bureau believes itself obliged to also state
that that it did not deliberate on any monetary
tax, either already collected or to be
collected, either already established or to be
established, and either under the name of
vingtièmes [twentieths] or any other name.
Prior to any deliberation on these subjects, the
bureau first desired to have access to the
revenue and expenditure accounts, the plans and
projects announced by the controller general,
and the means of saving that His Majesty
proposes to relieve the burden on his People. .
. .